Conceived with Malice: Literature as Revenge in the Lives and Works of Virginia and Leonard Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, Djuna Barnes, and Henry Miller

by Louise DeSalvo

Challenging the conceptions of how and why works of literature are written, a literary group study examines the motivations of Virginia and Leonard Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, Djuna Barnes, and Henry Miller, noting their jealousies, frustrations, and obsessions. Tour.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Biography

Hardcover

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Louise A. DeSalvo (born 1942) is an American writer, editor, professor, and lecturer who currently lives in New Jersey. Much of her work focuses on Italian-American culture, though she is also a renowned Virginia Woolf scholar.

DeSalvo and her husband raised their children in Teaneck, New Jersey before moving to Montclair to be closer to their grandchildren.

She also teaches memoir writing as a part of CUNY Hunter College's MFA Program in Creative Writing.

DeSalvo's publications include the memoir, Vertigo, which received the Gay Talese award and was also a finalist for Italy's Primo Acerbi prize for literature; Crazy in the Kitchen: Food, Feuds, and Forgiveness in an Italian American Family, which was named a Booksense Book of the Year for 2004.

DeSalvo is also a renowned Virginia Woolf scholar. She has edited editions of Woolf's first novel Melymbrosia, as well as The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, which documents the controversial lesbian affair between these two novelists. In addition, she has written two books on Woolf, Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work and Virginia Woolf's First Voyage: A Novel in the Making.

One of DeSalvo's most popular books is the writer's guide Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting look at how writing is used to hurt other people, and how very profoundly it does hurt people

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will be easy to relate to for writers! Literature as revenge, as purging of pain and anger is a no brainer. Much of the history of these writers is pooled in pain. Where many writers have claimed that 'anyone who uses their own life as literature has no imagination', I have found that every writer collects what they experience to create. It's not a far reach to imagine writers using fiction to vent things that they have kept repressed and to lash out with INK at those who have hurt them.
Djuna Barnes' life was deeply depressing to read about and it's no wonder she exposed her families depravity in her art. Was it simply about 'revenge' or more as a road to the healing process? Was writing more her only way to scream about the injustices she had been subjected to?
Leonard Woolf was cruel in using Virginia in his writing, and maybe the saying 'the pen is mighty than the sword' spoke volumes for those who have been on the receiving end of vicious writing.
Writer's aren't always kind when using real people to create characters, but writing is like an artist's caricature where the worse parts of someone is magnified. On the other hand, sometimes people just don't like the truth of who they are rubbed in their face and then written in a book that may outlive them.
This book was a nice find in the used book store. I recommend it specifically to writers.